Where Health Matters Grant Program

The Where Health Matters Grant Program is part of Health New England’s overall Community Benefits Giving program that looks to advance the health and wellbeing of vulnerable population groups living in Central and Western Massachusetts. Health New England will award five $50,000 grants to nonprofit community organizations annually, a minimum of one organization will be awarded per focus area. We fund evidence-based community programs that address one or more of the areas of our funding priorities and at least one of the health issue areas or identified health priority areas (social determinants of health) as defined by the  Attorney General Community Benefits Non-profit HMO Guidelines.

We are interested in non-profit community organizations that collaborate with other community partners for innovative delivery of programs that improve the health of people who live and work in our communities. 

Our focus areas for funding include:

  • Chronic diseases (including asthma, cardiovascular, chronic obstructive pulmonary, diabetes, and obesity)
  • Food insecurities and/or housing insecurities 
  • Infant, perinatal and maternal health 
  • Mental health and/or substance use disorder 

For additional insights into our priority funding areas, please refer to the most recent Community Health Needs for Health New England. For more detailed information on the social determinants of health, which have been adopted by the Attorney General Community Benefits Guidelines, refer to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Determination of Need Health Priorities Guidelines. 

Where Health Matters Grant Program Application Process

All applicants are asked to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) and a Request for Proposal (RFP), in addition to all supporting documentation. Only complete submissions made online will be considered. Only one application per non-profit organization will be accepted in each funding year. Organizations who were awarded the 2018 Where Health Matters Grant, are not eligible for funding. Nonprofit organizations will only be eligible for funding once from Health New England in a calendar year.


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Step 1)  Review Grant Program RFP Guidelines and complete the required supporting documentation, which include the Budget Template, Evaluation Plan Template, Logic Model Template and Work Plan. These documents must be completed and submitted online as part of your Grant Application by April 29, 2019, at 4 p.m.
Step 2)  To submit your written question(s) about the Grant Application and request the supporting documents listed above email CommunityGiving@hne.com by March 25, 2019 at 4 p.m. Eastern Time.
Step 3)  Submit your Letter of Intent by March 25, 2019 at 4 p.m. Eastern Time, through our online Letter of Intent form.
Step 4)  A Grant Program Question & Answer Session will be held on April 1, 2019 at 1 p.m. at Health New England. Please sign up here by March 27 if you plan to attend.  
Step 5)  Submit your RFP Grant Application using our online form by April 29, 2019 at 4 p.m. Eastern Time, and be sure to upload all completed supporting documents as part of your application.
Step 6)  RFP Grant Applications will be reviewed by Health New England Grant Program Review Teams, consisting of Health New England Community Benefits Advisory Committee members, public health experts and community partners.
Step 7)  Grantees will be informed in July. Grantees will be required to present to the Health New England Grant Program Committee and attend a Grant Program Workshop on August 15, 2019 from 12 – 3 p.m. at Health New England.
Step 8)  Funds will distributed to grantees in September 2019.
HNE